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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

It has been FAR too long since I have done a league post. I have been on a kind of indefinite hiatus, due to a larger project I have been working on. I am not going to say I am back, but I will try to be a bit more proactive about posting.

This Week The League has charged us to "Write about your first experience with something." I will try to not disappoint. I thought about it and couldn't think of anything all that memorable or important (especially pop culture related) then it struck me. . . and that story will follow!

It was probably 1989. My aunt and uncle took my cousin and I out to the next city over to go to the new mall with the big theater. Before the movie we made our way into a toy store (probably KB but it may have still been a K and K). They told me I could pick something out so I looked around and I decided on something I had been hearing about. A Ninja Turtle. Leonardo. I still remember it. The figures hung there is a relatively small part of the shelf. There were the turtles and shredder and the foot soldiers. But Leonardo spoke to me. He had swords and his bandanna was blue. That blue of his bandanna worked perfectly with the green of the body. He had swords (being an avid He-Man fan I knew that if he had swords he must be important). It seemed like the perfect toy to pick, and pick I did.

Throughout the movie all I could think about was being able to get home and play with the turtle. On the way home I opened it and was fascinated by it. While it was still basic it had extra articulation, and it didn't just come with its one accessory, but instead it came with a full arsenal. It was a kids dream come true. It was easy for me to forget about the Masters of the Universe figures that were sitting in my room. (Of course the fact that Masters of the Universe was already on their way off toy shelves didn't help.)

That one figure lead to the next 4 or so years of what I was into. Its because of that figure that I eventually found The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle comics and which probably lead me to get into independent comics years later etc. . . It is a figure that I don't think about a lot anymore, but it is something I hold dear.

Years later (probably about 1995) my cousin broke that Leonardo's leg, and I never really forgave him for that, although I think I still have it.

Its one of those memories I hold dear. So much so that when the new line of Ninja Turtles came out and when I finally found some on the shelf, the one that I was drawn to was Leonardo! It was the closest thing I could have to reliving that moment. I wasn't disappointed with that one either. It was great to relive the nostalgia like that!

That is how I remember the first time I got a Ninja Turtle figure. What about you, do you have a memorable first, tell us about it.

Also be sure to check out the league and other bloggers and what they have to say about their first experience with something!

Ninja Turtles was on its way out when I was growing up so I didn't ride that huge '80s wave. It wasn't until Michael Bay announced his involvement with a new Turtles movie that I just splurged on every piece of Turtles media that I could find; the 80s, 00s, and current Nickeloden cartoons, the live action movies, I even tracked down the original comic books. I figured if Michael Bay was affiliated it the latest installment of the franchise then I'd better find out what it was all about before that because if "Transformers" was any indication, I will never be able to look at anything related to the franchise afterward without wincing.